^^ 



...f^epopts... 



OF 



Mo^tioi^Q.! O^iceps 







NATIONAL SOCieTY 

OF THE 

P^u^bteps of the /{rQepicd^n f^eVoIi^tlop 



febFua^py ^0-25. 1599 



^m^ 



...^epopts- 



|\]Q.tior7Q.I O^^iceps 




^i6t7tb 

Qor)ti9er)taI 
Cor)^pess 



NATIONAL SOCieiY 



Pau^bteps of the /\r77epicat7 f^eVoIiitiop 



febpuapy 20-25. 1599 









.5- 



\^Ti 



2298 



j REPORT OF VICE-PRESIDENT GENERAL IN 

CHARGE OF ORGANIZATION OF 
CHAPTERS. 

Madam President and Ladies of the 

Eighth Continental Congress : 

I herewith submit the work done by your Vice-Pres- 
ident General in Charge of Organization of Chapters. 

Regents appointed 59 

Regents resigned 43 

Regencies expired by limitation 26 

Chapters at present organized 476 

Chapters at present unorganized 46 

An increase of 56 Chapters. 

Charter applications issued 70 

Charters issued 63 

Charters reissued 4 

Respectfully submitted. 

Hattie Nourse Brockett, 
Vice President General in Charge of 
Organization. 



REPORT OF THE RECORDING SECRETARY 
GENERAL. 

To the President General and Members of 
the Eighth Continental Congress, 

Daughters of the American Revolution : 

While the action of the Seventh Continental Congress 
in transferring the issuing of Charters to the department 
of the Vice-President General in charge of Organization 
has to that extent relieved this office of a responsibility, 
such as might lead to the conclusion that the duties were 
materially lightened, yet the year just passed has been 
unprecedented in the history of our society, eventful, 
busy, and ever to be remembered by our organization^ 
in the archieves of which have been placed records of 
immortal deeds, patriotism and loyalty in the hour of a 
nation's peril and a nation's struggle. Since the day of 
the call to arms against our Spanish foe to the signing 
of the Protocal of Peace, the Daughters of the American 
Revolution have by their untiring efifort and energy 
proven themselves scarcely second in heroism to the 
soldier at the very front. 

So far as has been within the province of my office to 
observe, the past year has been one of material progress 
to our association, and it is with peculiar pride that I 
have marked and participated as far as possible in this 



advancement. During the year I have issued 60 Chart- 
ers for new chapters, which are distributed as follows: 

Alabama 2 Michigan 2 

Colorado 1 Minnesota 4 

Connecticut 2 Missouri 3 

Florida 1 Montana , 1 

Illinois 3 New York 9 

Indiana . 4 North Carolina .... 3 

Iowa 2 Ohio 3 

Kentucky .., 4 Pennsylvania 2 

Maine 1 South CaroHna 2 

Maryland 1 Wisconsin 3 

Massachusetts 5 



A Chapter is now being formed in England and one 
in Canada. It is particularly gratifying to recall the 
last two localities, as it demonstrates the fact that the 
influence of our society is fast becoming international. 
I have signed commissions for 55 Regents. There has 
been an addition in the membership of 4,471, and to 
each of the new members I have issued the authorized 
certificate. Five hundred and sixty-eight letters have 
been received in my office. A large proportion of these 
required and have been given careful consideration in 
the 525 letters written. I have received and filed 250 
papers supplemental to original application papers, con- 
taining evidence relating to additional ancestors than 
those named in the original. I beg to offer one sug- 
gestion as to the administration of the office. It seems 
of sufficient importance to present to your honorable 
body the necessity for carefully filing press copies of all 
records or letters emanating from the various depart- 
ments of this office. This would go far towards pre- 
serving and perpetuating much of the early history of 
our society, valuable to posterity, besides giving to the 
successive incumbents of the office a guide and oppor- 



6 

tunity for consistency in its administration. I therefore 
respectfully recommend that the Congress will act on 
this suggestion. 

In conclusion, I beg indulgence for some expression 
of my gratitude for the co-operation which has been 
extended me in the administration of my office as Re- 
cording Secretary General. 

To the President General, to each and every member 
of the National Board of Management, and to all offi- 
cers and members of the society with whom I have come 
in official contact, I would say they have inspired me 
by their zeal, encouraged me by their promptness and 
courtesy, aided by their intelligence, until my sometimes 
arduous duties have been rendered not only possible, 
but positively pleasant. 

Respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) Alice Picket Akers, 

Recording Secretary General. 



REPORT OF THE CORRESPONDING 
SECRETARY GENERAL. 

Madame President and Daughters of the 

American Revolution in Congress Assembled : 

In laying before you the summary of the work done 
by your Corresponding Secretary General, since our last 
Congress, I do so with the confidence that you will dis- 
cern in the dry statistical tabulation evidence of the 
substantial growth and advancement of our society. 
This progress and development is due not alone to the 
individual efforts of our members, nor to their efforts in 
organized chapters, nor yet alone to your National offi- 
cers ; but each, with a unity of interest brought into 
harmony by the centralizing influence of the National 
office, has contributed equally to this consummation. 

At the beginning of my incumbency the duty of dis- 
tributing application papers, constitutions, and officers' 
lists, which, although properly belonging to the duties 
of my office, had for want of the necessary clerical assist- 
ance been assigned to the curator. Upon the recom- 
mendation of my predecessor, and realizing the necessity 
for such assistance, the National Board of Management 
immediately upon the adjournment of the last Congress 
authorized the employment of an additional clerk to be 
assigned to the Corresponding Secretary General, and 
since then all the legitimate work of that office has been 
given prompt consideration. 



The following table shows the work done for the fiscal 
year ending February 20, 1899: 

Letters received 1,315. 

Letters written 694. 

Letters otherwise disposed of 391. 

Postals 1,969. 

Application papers 33,420. 

Caldwell circulars 3,342. 

Constitution > 7,575. 

Officers' lists 3,354. 

Magazine circulars 520. 

Amendments to Constitutions 964. 

Amendments to By-laws 964. 

Railroad circulars 964. 

War circulars 10,000. 

War pledges 25,000. 

The foregoing table does not include the Ancestral 
Blanks distributed upon application, and of which no 
record is kept. 

Many of the letters received are of such a nature as to 
require their reference to other officers for answer or to 
the National Board of Management for action, and of 
the latter all resulting instructions are formulated and 
promulgated by this office. 

The war with Spain was the signal for the daughters 
of our first war to rall}^ to the support of the Govern- 
ment their fathers had established. It was my good 
fortune to be designated as Secretary of the War Com- 
mittee. This brought with it a vast amount of corres- 
pondence not strictly within the scope of the consti- 
tutional duties of the Corresponding Secretary General, 
but none the less imperative to the cause to which the 
Daughters of the American Revolution had pledged 



9 



their support. Ten thousand circulars and twentv-five 
thousand pledges were sent out within a week, and a 
record kept of all supplies consigned to the War Com- 
mittee. 

By order of the National Board of Management, the 
dutj^ of sendnig out notices of proposed amendments to 
the Constitution and By-laws was transferred from the 
oflice of the Recording Secretary General to the Corres- 
ponding Secretary General, and in conformity with the 
provisions of the Constitution there were sent to the 
several Chapters of our organization upwards of two 
thousand proposed amendments to the Constitution and 
By-laws. 

In conclusion I can not refrain from calling the atten- 
tion ^the Congress to a matter which in the conduct of 
my office has been forcibly and frequently brought to 
my attention. We have in our society two hundred and 
seventy-five daughters of men who fought in the Ameri- 
can Revolution, "Real Daughters" we call them, all of 
them are old, many destitute. I am advised that Con- 
gress has made no provision for the pensioning of the 
children of revolutionary soldiers that can be of bene- 
fit to these daughters of our society, and it would seem 
meet that we, as an organization, should interest ourself 
in their behalf and ask appropriate legislation at the 
Hands of the National Government. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) Kate Kearney Henry, 

Corresponding Secretary General 

February 20, 1899. 



10 



REGISTRAR GENERAL'S REPORT FOR 1898-'99. 

Madam President, Ladies of the Continental Congress, 

Daughters of the American Revolution : 

When I was elected Registrar General of this Society- 
one year ago, February 22, 1898, the Daughters numbered 
23,209; on February 22, 1899, the number of Daughters 
is 27,432. I have presented to the society 4,123 names. 
I have also signed 250 additional papers ; I have issued 
4,471 certificates and 1,722 badge permits. 

After my election, as I was the first Registrar General 
to take full charge of the work, the Seventh Continental 
Congress decided by vote that an expert genealogist 
might be employed to assist me. I found, however, that 
the organization and management of my office was so 
complete and my clerks so efficient that a genealogist 
was not needed at that time. Subsequent experience 
has proved to me that I was correct. Three of the ap- 
plicants for genealogist. Miss Ball, Mrs. Dorsey, and Miss 
Mickley, very kindly volunteered their aid gratuitously 
should I need it, but I have not had yet to call upon 
any one of them for genealogical assistance. Published 
genealogies can be verified in this office, or in the Con- 
gressional Library, as well as revolutionary service, but 
the unpublished genealogies should be verified by the 
applicants, either through the Chapter Registrar or a 
State or town genealogist employed for the purpose. We 
are too far from the applicants to examine their family 
Bibles, their old letters, or the town records. 

Dr. McGee offered a resolution last year intended to 
meet this want. It was that there should be 13 Registrar 
Generals in the 13 Colonial States, but the States of Ver- 
mont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio are also full of revo- 
lutionary records, and it is hard to discriminate. I think 



11 



that it would be well for every State to have a consulting 
genealogist. Many papers come to me with attested 
genealogies. The Cincinnati Chapter, the Philadelphia, 
the Sequoia and other California Chapters, tlie Delaware 
Chapter, the Old Colony in Massachusetts, and many 
other Chapters, always send papers so admirably attested 
that it is a pleasure to receive them. I may add that 
any genealogical errors are always speedily discovered 
by the young lady in charge of the card catalogue, who 
has become an expert at that work. 

Madam President and Daughters of the American 
Revolution, I can not but rejoice in having contributed 
so much to the increase of this great society. The slur 
cast upon this nation ten years ago, that we were a mon- 
grel tribe, the descendants of the outcasts of Europe, has 
been abundantly and entirely disproved by the records 
of this society. 

The descendants of the heroes of the American Revo- 
lution can prove their true Americanism in spite of one 
hundred years of foreign immigration. I liope that this 
society may grow until every nook and corner of this 
great Republic may have its Daughters to fulfill the 
objects of this society and prepare their children, our 
future citizens, for the great work before them. 

Respectfully submitted. 

Susan Riviere Hetzel, 
Registrar General. 



12 



REPORT OF TREASURER GENERAL. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance on hand Febniai-i/ S, 1S'J8 |3,814 70 

Initiation fees 4,046 00 

Annual dues 26,414 00 

Charters and life members 1,498 00 

Blanks and stationery 37 11 

Rosettes 241 20 

Directory 190 50 

Ribbon 28 86 

Spoons 29 46 

Lineage books 525 00 

Insignia 1,267 00 

Statute books 4 95 

Magazine 2,005 74 

Interest on investments 1,511 27 

Certificates 26 00 

Permanent investments (bonds redeemed) 400 00 

China 20 00 

Bills payable (temporary loan) 1,200 00 

Record shields 10 00 

Continental Hall 4,444 00 

Seventh Cont. Congress(unexpended return)... 5 05 

Stationery 45 20 

$47,764 04 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Certificates $143 00 

Directory 1,667 71 

Lineage 1,745 00 

Magazine 6,537 10 

Dues refunded 946 00 

Ribbon 76 50 

Rosettes 200 00 

Spoons 201 00 

Charters and life members (refund) 143 50 

Bills payable (note paid) 1,200 00 

Expenses 7th Continental Congress 2,375 46 

Expenses 8th Continental Congress 204 85 



13 



Office Expenses- 



First Vice-President General $770 50 

Recording Secretary General 1,194 50 

Corresponding Secretary General.... 589 70 

Treasurer General 2,448 60 

Registrar General 2,735 10 

Historical General 1,664 50 

Library General 217 08 

Card catalogue 586 40 

State Regents 155 45 

General office 6,390 12 

1 

Pkrmanent Fund — 

Continental Hall $4,444 00 

Charters and life members . 1,354 50 

Rosettes 41 20 

Insignia 1,267 00 

Interest on investments 1,511 27 

China 20 00 

Stationery 45 10 

Statute books 4 95 

Record shields 10 00 

Bonds redeemed 400 00 

Part of transfer of $5,000 ordered by 

7th Continental Congress 2,767 50 



[6,741 75 



11,865 62 

Balance $2,232.50 made by transfer 
of U. S. bonds from current invest- 
ments. 

Balance on hand Febniari/ 10, 1S99 3,716 55 

$47,764 04 



14 



PERMANENT FUND. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance on hand February 8, 189S |3,626 23 

Continental Hall #4,444 00 

Charters and life members 1 , 354 50 

Rosettes 41 20 

Insignia 1,267 00 

Interest on investments 1,511 27 

China 20 00 

Stationery 45 20 

Statute books 4 95 

Record shields 10 00 

Bonds redeemed 400 00 

Part of transfer of $5,000 ordered by 

7th Continental Congress 2,707 50 

11,865 63 

115,491 85 



DISBURSEMENTS. 

TenU. S. bonds $10,918 75 

Balance on hand Fehrnary 10, 1899 4,573 10 

$15,491 85 

ASSETS. 

Current fund cash, balance Feb. 10, 1899 $3,716 55 

Current investments 2 U. S. 4 per ct. bonds.... 2,832 50 

$5,949 05 

Permanent fund — 
Cash balance February 10, 1899 $4,573 10 

INVESTMENTS. 

Two American Security and Trust Co. bonds-. 2,034 31 
Two U. S. bonds (transfer current investment 

part of $5,000 ordered by 7th Congress 2,232 50 

OneU. S. bond 1,092 50 

One U. S. bond 1,060 00 

Six U. S. bonds 6,974 95 

Three U. S. bonds 8,354 00 

Three U. S. bonds 3,371 25 

Four U. S. bonds 4,500 00 

Three U. S. bonds 3,397 50 

TenU. S. bonds 10,918 75 

48,508 86 

Total assets $49,457 86 

February 10, 1899, assets $49,457 91 

February 8, 1898, assets 38,090 44 



Increase $11,367 47 



7* 



15 

Special Notice. All listed assets are carried at the actual 
cost price, the society paid for these Bonds when purchased. 

The par value of U. S. Bonds on hand is $1,000 each. When 
these Bonds mature in 1907 and 1935, if they should still be in the 
possession of the Society of the D. A. R., they will be redeemed at 
$1,000 each, their actual par value. 

The difference between the price at which the Bonds will be 
redeemed by the U.S., and the original cost price, will have to be 
charged to the Interest account and deducted from the receipts of 
that account. 

As these securities were carried at their cost price by our for- 
mer treasurer, I have since carried them at the same figures, and 
not at their par value. 



* Exhibit showing channels through which increase 
$11,367.47 has been derived from Feb. 8, 1898, to Feb. 10, 1899. 



of 



LOSSES 



Expense ■ 
Directory 
Magazine 
Ribbons... 



Lineage 

Spoons 

Certificates 

7th Congress... 
8th Congress ... 
Excess in gains- 



$16,704 64 


1,477 21 


4,581 36 


47 64 


1,220 


171 54 


117 


2,370 41 


204 85 


11,367 47 


$38,212 12 



GAINS 

Fees and Dues $29,514 

Statute Book 4 95 

Cont. Hall 4,444 

C. &L. M 1,354 50 

Rosettes 41 20 

China 20 

Interest 1,511 27 

Insignia 1,267 00 

Stationery 45 20 

Record Shields 10 



$38,212 12 



Sarah H. Hatch, 
Treasurer-General, D. A. B. 



16 



REPORT OF HISTORIAN GENERAL. 

Madame President, and Ladies of the Congress : 

I am liap{)y to present to you 1113^ report as Historian 
of the National Society of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution for the year 1898. 

The editing of the Lineage Books is a specialty of this 
department. The work upon the seventh volume was 
contemporary with the Spanish War, and we realized 
anew how precious are the memories of the Revolution- 
ary patriots with every baptism of war and bloodshed 
through which this nation passes, maintaining the {prin- 
ciples for which they defended with their lives, fortunes, 
and sacred honor. 

Our patriotic songs link the Revolution with every 
successive war for liberty, and every struggle to main- 
tain the honor of our flag demonstrates anew the wis- 
dom and foresight of the founder of our nation, and a 
new impetus is given to perpetuate their heroic deeds, 
as is done m the Lineage Books of this society. 

We are now editing the ninth volume, which includes 
some of the records of 1895. During the past two years 
six of these volumes have been published, and I find 
that three volumes a year are all that can be edited 
with the care that is necessary to make them valuable 
as books of reference in our own Chapters, and to geneal- 
ogists and librarians throughout tlie country. 

There is nothing that the Daughters are doing which 
should be of such interest to every member as these Lin- 
eage Books, for they are an epitomiz.ed history of the 
society. 

What a mine of historical facts has come into our 
possession in the application papers of the more than 
27,000 members which have been received since its 



17 

organization, and when the expressed essence of this data 
has been culled out and returned to the chapters in the 
Lineage Books they possess treasures of genealogical and 
historical lore which they will realize more and more as 
they become familiarized with these volumes. 

Gathering the facts together is most commendable, but 
to publish them is our duty as a patriotic society, and the 
outla}"- now required will bring valuable results and rich 
returns — for wherever these books are read it creates a 
desire to become a member. 

It would be impossible for me to give you the letters 
of approbation and encouragement received from high 
authorities about the Lineage Books but I quote from one 
historian, who writes — "It is a general opinion that a 
mass of data is all that is necessary to make history, but 
to take this data, arrange and dovetail so that each 
shall fit in chronological order as well as in relevance 
and make a continuity of the whole, and not weaken the 
subject with verbosity in the ending, this is genius. I 
deem this the grand feature in the Daughters' work." 

Our Historical Society presents many interesting feat- 
ures, the most unique of which is that of its Real 
Daughters, those members whose fathers were Revolu- 
tionary soldiers. Since the organization of this society 
there have been 339 of these Real Daughters, the pres- 
ent number being 276. Of these, six have been Regents 
of Chapters. Mrs. R. Ogden Doremus was appointed 
first Regent of New York City Chapter. She graces 
this Congress with her presence, but we delight to pay 
our tribute to her noble life of charities and benevolence 
which has culminated in her most earnest efforts to 
develop the patriotic and historic objects of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution. 

Her activity in the Sanitary Fair in New York in 
1863, in the French Fair for the disabled soldiers in the 



18 

Franco-Prussian war, also for the Mount Vernon Asso- 
ciation, were preparatory to her untiring efforts in our 
society. The father of Mrs. Doremus was Hubbard 
Skidmore. When a boy of nine years he fed his father's 
cannon with powder, and at the age of thirteen he deliv- 
ered valuable papers to his general, passing through the 
camp of the enemy during the cover of the night. The 
brilliancy of his career subsequent to the Revolution, 
and the antiquity of his family, dating back to 1066, are 
well known to the friends of Mrs. Doremus. 

Another Real Daughter, Mrs. Mary Anne Washing- 
ton, was the first Regent of the Macon Chapter, Macon, 
Georgia. She was present at the first Council of Regents 
appointed by the first President General, Mrs. Harrison, 
in Washington for October 6, 1891. He father, Samuel 
Hammond, was a colonel of cavalry for Virginia during 
the Revolution, and he fought at King's Mountain, Cow- 
pens, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw. 

Another Real Daughter, Mrs. Sophia Van Dolson 
Andrews, was the first Regent of the Abagail Adams 
Chapter at Des Moines, Iowa. She was a native of El- 
raira. New York, and was educated at the University of 
Michigan. She has been the president of several wom- 
en's clubs and was the first woman admitted to the Iowa 
Legislature as a press correspondent. Mrs. Andrews is 
still in the [)rime of life, an accomplished and useful 
woman. 

Mrs. Susan E. Polk Rayner was a native of Raleigh, 
North Carolina, and was the first Regent of a Chapter in 
Stephensville, Texas. Her father was Lieutenant Colo- 
nel William Polk of North Carolina. He commanded 
the regiment which removed the Liberty Bell from In- 
dependence Hall, in Philadelphia, at the approach of 
the British, to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where it was 



19 

concealed beneath the floor of Zion Reformed Church, 
being returned to Philadelphia in the autum of 1778. 

Another Real Daughter, Mrs. Harriet Wetraore Sells 
is Regent of the Chapter at Salt Lake City, Utah, and a 
sixth Real Daughter, Mrs. Anna Morse, is Regent of a 
Chapter at Cherry Valley, New York. 

Pennsylvania has both the oldest and the youngest 
Real Daughters. Mrs. Sarah Doran Terry is 106 years of 
age. She resides in Philadelphia, Penn., and is a member 
of the Quaker City Chapter. She attends its meetings and 
recites at its entertainments. She spent much of her 
early life abroad. She entertains her callers with her 
recollections of Frederick VI. of Den mark, at whose court 
she resided. She also remembers Queen Victoria as a 
child at play in Kensington Gardens. She reads the 
papers thoroughly, for her eyesight is wonderful. She 
enjoys life, and her especial pride is in being a Daughter 
of the American Revolution. 

The youngest Real Daughter in the society is Mrs. 
Annie Knight Gregory. She is fifty-five years of age, 
and is a member of Conrad Weiser Chapter, Selins Grove,. 
Pennsylvania. 

Connecticut is the Banner State, for her total number 
of Real Daughters has been 79; it is now 69. That 
State also has the honor of possessing the second Real 
Daughter in point of age, Miss Mary Spooner, of Ruth 
Hart Chapter, Meriden, a resident of New Bedford, Mas- 
sachusetts. Her age at this time is 105 years and 12 
days. She attributes her longevity to her frugal, quiet 
life, and to having never risked herself upon steam or 
electric cars. A peculiar feature of her history is that 
she has lived in tiiree towns and one city without having 
moved. 

The Susan Clark Carrington Chapter is the Banner 
Chapter of the Society, it having numbered 17 Real 



20 

Daughters. Nancy Ray, her senior Real Daughter, 
passed away upon Christmas Day 1898, being in her 103d 
year. 

Miss Anna M. Benton, of Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth 
Chapter, Connecticut, is in her 102d year. Mrs. Abagail 
Foote Loomis celebrated her 100th birthday in June, 
1898. A photograph represents her as seated in her 
parlor, a vase of 100 hundred roses by her side, the gift 
of her Chapter upon her birthday. 

At an earlier day Connecticut had a centenarian who 
knitted stockings for the soldiers of 76 and the soldiers 
of '61. 

Massachusetts ranks second in her number of Real 
Daughters. Her total number has been 59, of whom 47 
are now living. Mercy Warren Chapter, of Springfield, 
has the largest number in the State, and is second in the 
society, it having had 11 Real Daughters. The Old 
South Chapter, Boston, has a distinguished Real 
Daughter, Miss Sophronia Fletcher, M. D., who was the 
first resident physician at Mt. Holyoke College, Massa- 
chusetts. 

New Jersey has a Real Daughter 103 years of age, 
Mrs. Hannah S. Davis, of Absecon, also Mrs. Hedges, of 
Nova Cesarea Chapter, who has passed her one hun- 
dredth birthday. 

Michigan has had her Real Daughter, a centenarian, 
who passed away in 1898. She was Mrs. Nancy De 
Graff Toll. Among Mrs. Toll's reminiscences was the 
visit of Lafayette to Schenectady, New York, where she 
resided in her youth. She w^as one of the young girls 
who strewed flowers in the patli of the gallant marquis. 
•She also saw and remembered General Washington on 
his visit to that city. 

Leaving our centenarians and coming down to our 
more youthful Real Daughters, of whom we have nearly 



21 

one hundred in the nineties, we notice Mrs. Burnett, of 
Watertown, New York, wlio in her one hundredth year 
is the capable housekeeper for her son, a youth of 77. 

During the year 1898 Mrs. Annie Morehead Hobson 
has been added as a Real Daughter to Columbia Chap- 
ter, South Carolina. Mrs. Hobson is tlie grandmother 
of Lieut. Richmond Pierson Hobson, tlie hero of the 
Merrimac, whose visit to her was most touching. She is 
totally blind, and wept as she passed her hands over his 
face because she could not see him. Mrs. Hobson's 
father was John Morehead, of Virginia. He fought at 
Cowpens and King's Mountain. The love of liberty 
which animated the Revolutionary patriot was the same 
which impelled his descendant of this day to his deed of 
daring in the Spanish-American war. 

I take pleasure in referring to a Trans-Mississippi Chap- 
ter, the Elizabeth Benton, of Kansas City, Missouri, which 
has enrolled six Real Daughters. Their photographs 
are in the alcove belonging to the Daughters of the 
American Revolution in the Public Library of Kansas 
City. These Real Daughters are the golden links which 
connect us with those patriots who gained for us the 
priceless liberty which we enjo3^ They are fast passing 
away. As a historical society, should we not esteem it a 
duty and a privilege to preserve the personal sketches 
and the photographs of these Real Doughters in a per- 
manent form, that we may transmit to those who shall 
come after us these precious souvenirs of this most unique 
class of our members wlien they all shall have passed 

away. 

Mary Jane Seymour, 
Historian General, N. S. D. A. R. 



22 



REPORT OF ASSISTANT HISTORIAN 
GENERAL. 

Madam President and Ladies of the 

Eigldh Continental Congress: 

The office of Assistant Historian General was created 
in 1895, but as no permanent duties were specified, each 
successive incumbent has taken up such work as seemed 
best during her term of office. 

The first Assistant Historian General elected assumed 
as her duty the compilation of the current history of the 
society from its organization u[) to the Congress of 1896. 
The two succeeding officers followed other lines of work. 

Upon being elected Assistant Historian General in 
1898, it was my intention and desire to continue the 
record of the current history of the society from 1896 to 
the present date, but this i)roject seemed to duplicate the 
work of the Committee on Report to the Smithsonian 
Institution. (This report is obligatory under the provis- 
ions of the National Act of our incorporation, and, being 
the first report of the society to the Secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution, necessarily included the history 
of our society from its inception.) In lieu of this work, 
ray time has been largely occupied by the duties devolv- 
ing upon me as Chairman of the Printing Committee,^ 
Chairman of the Franco-American Memorial Committee, 
the work of assisting in the editing of the Director}"-, and 
as a member of the Committee on Report to the Smithson- 
ian Institution. The last-named committee was greatly 
hampered by the lack of data at the National Head- 
quarters, concerning the work of Chapters, which, after 
all, forms the greater part of the histor}'^ of the society. 

The Chapters send statements of their historical work,^ 
and social and patriotic entevtainments, to the Ainerica)^ 



23 

Monthly Magazine, and they should continue to do so, sa 
this matter forms one of the most interesting features of 
our official publication. Notwithstanding the desire of 
the editor to publish everything regarding Chapter work 
which is sent her, much of it is crowded out for the lack 
of space, as the size of the magazine is restricted, and fre- 
quently valuable and interesting information thus fails 
to go on record. 

In view of these facts, I earnestly recommend that 
hereafter the work assigned to the Assistant Historian 
General be the compilation of the current history of 
this society, and that Chapter Historians be requested 
to send to this officer the reports of Chapter work. By 
the adoption of this suggestion, accurate data for the 
preparation of the annual Report to the Smithsonian 
Institution could be obtained from the records kept by 
the Assistant Historian General, and the valuable work 
done by each and every Chapter would be properly pre- 
served in the archives of the National Society. 
Respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) Georgia Stockton Hatcher, 

Assistant Historian General. 



•24 



REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN GENERAL. 

Madam President and Ladies of the 

Eighth Continental Congress : 
When my report was made to your honorable body 
in 1898 the library contained 996 volumes, including 
pamphlets and bound books. It has increased quite 
appreciably since that time and has outgrown its shelves. 
All the volumes are entered by author, subject, and 
title in a cross-reference dictionary catalogue of about 
8,000 cards. At the date of writing this report there 
are 1,241 volumes in the librar}'-, and the number will 
probably be increased to 1,250 during the Congress, as 
several books are known to be on the way here. The 
value of this collection is, however, not fully represented 
by a statement of its increase in numbers. The books 
have been selected with close attention to their useful- 
ness for our work and not gathered at random. There 
are, I believe, but four books of fiction among them. As 
there is no fund at the disposal of the National Board for 
purchasing books, it has been necessary for the Libra- 
rian to beg for them where she could, and to secure 
some by exchange. It has been her pleasant experience 
to find that the American public is very responsive when 
a worthy object is presented to its notice, and the cor- 
respondence thus started with those whose faces she 
never saw has been most inspiring. But there must 
soon be a limit to the additions which can be secured 
for the library in this way. The most valuable books 
for our purpose are town and county histories long out 
of print, and fast growing almost priceless by reason of 
their scarcity. To secure such books it is recommended 
that the small appropriation 3f fifty dollars yearly be at 



25 

the disposal of the Librarian for their purchase wheiv 
the rare opportunity occurs. 

We do not want ^-eneral literature, but we do want 
local American histories, biographies, and genealogies. 
Many of our members possess collections of just such 
books as we need, and no better disposition of them 
could be made than to bequeath them to this library 
when the owners no longer need them. We especially 
want books that deal with the history of Maine, Penn- 
sylvania, and New York towns and counties. We need 
the published records of Middlesex and Bristol parishes 
in Virginia, and our information about Delaware is a 
complete blank. Will not some of the larger State dele- 
gations take up this matter and help the smaller? Every 
such book added to the library of the society adds just 
so much to the ability of the Registrar to verify the 
applications of desirable prospective members from States 
whose official records have been lost or destroyed. And 
by so much is the strength of the society increased. 

After a few months of work in your library, it became 
evident that both officers and clerks were daily com- 
pelled to lose time invaluable to the society, by the 
necessity for prolonged searches for facts which ought to 
be made accessible. It was plain that something more 
exhaustive than an ordinary catalogue was needed if 
the library was to fulfill its purpose and promote the 
object of our society. It is the business of a librarian to 
furnish information for other people's use. Efforts were 
therefore begun at once to remedy the difficulties under 
which the offices of the Registrar and Historian were 
laboring. To do this with intelligence and dispatch, it was 
necessary to adopt a system of indexing which would bring 
the information contained in all the books into one alpha- 
betical arrangement, to which reference could be made, 
as readily as to a dictionary. This has involved the 



2() 

writing of thousands of index cards, as many as the 
Librarian's hand could execute, in addition to the other 
duties of her office. The index is, however, still far from 
complete. Such an index can not be made in a day. It 
is therefore recommended, as a matter of real economy 
for the society, that a permanent trained library clerk be 
engaged to assist the Librarian General. That officer 
can then giv-e tiie time now spent in indexing to the 
writing of many more appeals, which will surely bring 
much-needed books to our shelves. 

For the last four months the Librarian has been 
working as chairman of the committee on the report of 
our society to the Smithsonian Institution required by 
our charter. In order to do this work, it was necessary 
that a temporary trained clerk should partly take her 
place in the library. The benefit to the society derived 
from this uninterrupted presence of a woman ready to 
help inquirers lias been manifest to all. The Libraian 
General should not be without such faithful help here- 
after. 

In closing my report, my heartiest thanks are tendered 
to my fellow-members of the Board for their unfailing 
kindness, and to you whose support has made my work 
possible. 

Gertrude Bascom Darwin. 

February 20, 1899. 



1 TRRftRY OF CONGRESS 

wm 

011 710 wO o 



